


The knight and the hanged prince

by Dhamphiric_Dragon



Category: AFK Arena (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Tragic Death, graveborn cuddles, mentions of past trauma, niru and shamira need to watch what they prescribe to people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 02:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dhamphiric_Dragon/pseuds/Dhamphiric_Dragon
Summary: Kelthur is having trouble sleeping due to a recurring nightmare. Grezhul helps to remedy his night terrors only to realize that they are much more deeply rooted in Kelthur than he originally thought





	The knight and the hanged prince

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to give constructive criticism and feedback! This is my first “real” fanfiction so I hope you all enjoy, this is yaoi, AKA two men in a romantic relationship, if you don’t like please don’t read and send hate because then i’ll Have to ask why you read it if you don’t like the idea of two men??

“GUILTY!” That word again, so many times he’s heard it by now. He was aware he was dreaming but that didn’t make hearing that one word any easier. “Kelthur Marwen you are sentenced to hang for the premeditated murder of your father lord Marwen” There was no point in arguing, begging for his life, or even making a scene. the hangman’s knot was around his throat from the moment his peasant mother gifted him with his first breath. He accepted the fact he was doomed from the start and it was only a matter of time before that knot was tightened and the world dropped the floor out from under him.

After the only man who ever showed him any sort of love or kindness was ripped away from his fingers he became distant, cold, his stepmother whined and cried to the judge over and over again that he was guilty. The “trial”, if one could truly call it that, was only a farce, he knew there was no point, she wanted him dead after his father clearly showed he favored Kelthur over her sniveling brat he was forced to call his half brother. He was slowly moved to the gallows where he would meet his end and the noose was secured around his neck. He looked up to the sky one final time before looking at his stepmother who looked like a pleased cat after it finally caught the mouse. He glared at her with as much hate and venom he could muster before looking at the judge.

His eyes widened in shock. The “judge” who sat and watched for his demise was not the man who had stolen kelthurs life that faithful day. It was king Thoran, staring at with an impartial gaze as he sat on the judges chair like a conqueror surveying his new territory. Kelthur quickly started looking around frantically as he saw a familiar figure approach the lever to drop the floor and his heart sank into the pit of his stomach as a man with familiar blue flame hair approached the gallows. Grezhul looked at Kelthur blankly, almost as if he didn’t recognize him. It frightened Kelthur to no end as he tried to yell for Grezhul to stop. It seemed, however, that Grezhul was either ignoring him or couldn’t hear him as he gave Kelthur another glance, grabbed the lever, and pulled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He woke up in a cold sweat, and bolted upright in his cot. Lungs gasping for air as he grasped at his bruised throat where the rope bit into his neck as the floor of the gallows had dropped out from under him all those years ago. He looked around to see he was still in his tent in the Graveborn section of the camp after a long battle against a rather strong surge of hypogean forces. ‘A nightmare’ Kelthur thought to himself. ‘I have had this nightmare many times, yet why was this so different?’ He shook his head to clear the image from his mind and decided to splash some water on his face by the river near the campsite and decided to dress only in sleep pants. He was, after all, already dead so the cold didn’t bother him as much anyways.

He dressed and left his tent to start on his way towards the river. Unlike their Light bearer counterparts Graveborn had exceptional night vision and superior senses of hearing and smell. He easily navigated his way to the riverbank and knelt down splashing the cool water over his face. He was so caught up in trying to shake the dream from his mind he didn’t hear the padding of footsteps coming behind him until the other person spoke. “Kelthur? What are you doing up so late?” Kelthur jumped and whipped around, summoning his shuriken from the shadows before he could think. His mind soon registered who was standing behind him, armorless and only in boxers as the figure held up his hands in mock surrender. “Grezhul! I’m sorry I hadn’t heard you come up...” he straightened out his posture and made his weapon vanish, his cheeks tinting a very slight pinkish.

Grezhul could only smile and chuckle at his lover, Kelthur was still young by graveborn standards and still pretty jumpy it seems, his death had only been a few years prior and usually graveborn "grow out of" their humanity so to speak yet still retain enough memories to "feel” emotions. After the graveborn of the Bantus empire made pacts with Quedam, most genuinely did loose their emotions, Grezhul was one of the few who could still feel his, what was hard however was making sure Quedam couldn’t find out with the whole ‘he sees through the eyes of ALL the graveborn he makes a pact with’ part. “It’s fine, I saw you leaving your tent looking distraught and figured you may need some comfort.” Kelthur Smiled sheepishly, Grezhul had a bit of a reputation for being arrogant, standoffish, rude, and only loyal to Thoran, he now knew however that most of the above wasn’t true....mostly anyway, Grezhul still had his moments of narcissism but everyone does. “ I suppose i’m not as stealthy as I thought” Kelthur joked lightheartedly. “For me no, however no one else knows how to find you~” Grezhul teased back. It was funny really, here they were, hopelessly in love, in the middle of two wars, the war against the hypogean, and the civil war with the isle of the banished. Both were on opposite sides trying to figure out how to break Grezhuls pact with Quedam without killing him. “But that’s not the point” Grezhul said seriously, “what’s troubling you?” Kelthur turned sheepish again for a moment, looking away to consider his answer carefully and definitely not ogle Grezhuls perfectly sculpted battle hardened body. Grezhul Approached Kelthur and gently placed a cool hand on Kelthurs slightly warm cheek. “Was it that dream again?” He took the time to appreciate Kelthurs leaner toned torso as he fretted over him. His love was very self conscious and often times it took a lot of coaxing to get him to open up. “C-can we talk in the tents? I feel too exposed out here.” Grezhul had to resist the urge to laugh at Kelthurs sudden shyness. Here they both were standing half naked by a river where anyone could walk over and see them together, and only now that they are talking about their feelings does he suddenly want privacy. “Alright, privacy seems like a better idea anyway if things get.....heated~” the way he licked his lips and gazed at Kelthur like he was a meal waiting to be devoured sent shivers down Kelthurs spine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After heading back to the tents the air became heavy with awkwardness as both Grezhul and Kelthur struggled with who would break the silence when they reached their final destination. they soon arrived at Grezhuls tent and kelthur took the time to take in his surroundings. inside the tent was larger in size mostly because Grezhul was seen as a commander of the Graveborn forces and of course it was pitched next to Thorans tent which was larger but not by much. either way it was larger than Kelthers own tent by a long shot, a single cot to the left of the entrance and a chest for storage to the right, unlike common soldiers however Ghezhuls tent also included a table for his meals and looking over maps to help Thoran coordinate their efforts against the Hypogean forces with the warriors of the other factions along the sides were both training and real weapons and memorabilia from the Bantus empire seemingly from a time before Graveborn became the sole occupant of the city, And before the civil war tore the empire in half. “Alright Kelthur, what happened?” His face betrayed a genuine concern for Kelthurs well-being, he hated seeing his lover so distressed after witnessing his battle prowess, and strength of will first hand, to see Kelthur so frightened disturbed him greatly. especially since he was one of the few who could match his skill during training. “I couldn’t sleep so I went to Niru and Shemira to get a remedy to help with my insomnia, it worked but somehow....I think it messed with my head..” Grezhul felt his brows furrow, he knew Niru and Shemira were powerful mages and Niru a healer in life, could they have done this on purpose? “What was it about? Your dream i mean” Grezhul asked as he sat down on the cot in the tent. Kelthur sighed and climbed onto Ghezhuls lap seeming ready to cave and say what was on his mind. Grezhul smiled and felt like rewarding Kelthur for complying by sucking on a perticularly soft spot on Kelthurs shoulder to leave a kiss mark, a large one at that, being careful to avoid his neck as Kelthur hated the feeling of anything too close to his throat, causing Kelthur to shudder and groan.“it....it started off normal but then Y-you appeared and walked up to the gallows , I tried to tell you to stop but you wouldn’t listen! Instead you pulled the lever on the gallows so I would.....would.....” by this point Kelthur was shaking with fear over the dream. That made Grezhul stop worrying the red patch that blossomed on Kelthurs shoulder and look into his identical colored orbs with shock and confusion in equal measures. “Why would I do that?” Kelthur looked down at that before answering “because King Thoran ordered you to.... he took the place of the judge in my dream.....” He looked up at Grezhul vulnerably, eyes betraying hurt and hope. “You....you wouldn’t do that right? Would you kill me if Thoran ordered you to?” Grezhul had to pause, would he? His loyalty to Thoran knew no bounds, one lightbearer (some soldier, Eric? Ulric? Grezhul was never good with names if the person didn’t catch his interest) had the audacity to spit in his Kings direction and it took Brutus, Warek, lucious, and Hogan a lot of effort to hold him back from killing the soldier. But the idea of his king asking him to kill the man he loved? Grezhul snorted “I would sooner start a second rebellion and kill Thoran myself then let him order me to kill you, please, believe me when I say that if I could join you on the isle of the banished I would betray Thoran without a second thought, that monster that sits on the throne now is not, and never will be the same King Thoran that I faithfully served in life as Garret, the Thoran that earned my loyalty would never betray his people like this. “Kelthurs eyes widened at that. He was more loyal to Kelthur than Thoran? was that possible? He couldn’t help but smile and pull Grezhul into a passionate kiss. Grezhul smirked and happily reciprocated the affection Kelthur so willingly gave him and relished in the fact that only he could see the guarded ninja so vulnerable. He was definitely going to have to talk with Shemira and Niru about whatever it was they gave Kelthur. However right now all he wanted to do was prove his devotion to Kelthur and quell whatever fears plagued him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elsewhere in the camp shamira couldn’t help but smile while she drank a cup of tea in hers and Niru tent. “Seriously shamira, tell me what you put in that insomnia remedy you gave Kelthur” Niru begged from the cot that he and his wife shared as he lay there with only a thin blanket not really hiding much from view. Shemira could only chuckle and smile coyly at her husband. “Only something that will help him to understand his fears were invalid~” She smiled knowing that the lack of answer would bug Niru for the rest of the evening until she told him. What he doesn’t know won’t kill him right? END

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! Please, constructive criticism only! I wrote this on my phone and will be tweaking it and reworking it once I get to an actual computer lol if you have any requested pairings for AFK Arena feel free to request them for me to write about I did decide to re edit it again since the Graveborn lore was updated so I hope you guys can enjoy this


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